Conventional stretched fabric for artwork (i.e. painter's canvas or photographic print on fixed frame) is not intended for disassembly. Therefore, larger sizes of stretched fabric on permanently assembled frames become difficult to transport, difficult to package and prohibitively expensive to ship though common carriers.
Review of related apparatus and methods:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,765 teaches a spreading and stretching apparatus for textile calendar machines especially adapted for use with knitted and other tubular fabrics to prevent the pinching and tearing of the fabric as it is drawn into the calendar rolls of the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,294,642 teaches an apparatus for spreading tubular fabric comprising frame members having at one end outwardly extending portions of reduced thickness and at the other end inwardly extending portions, a plurality of grooved pulley members revolvably mounted on the frame members, a belt member passing over the pulley members and extending beyond the periphery thereof along the outer sides of the frame member, pulley members revolvably mounted on the frame members adjacent the inwardly extending portions, said latter pulleys being of greater diameter than the other pulley members and being grooved deeper than the thickness of the belt member.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,409 discloses a canvas, a knockdown stretch frame embodying a first pair of longitudinal side frame members having longitudinally rabbeted surfaces residing flatwise atop coacting reverse surface portions of said canvas, the respectively adjacent marginal edge portions of said canvas projecting beyond predetermined outward marginal edges of said side frame members and being fashioned into lateral flaps, said flaps overlapping and being permanently attached to the marginal edges of said side frame members, the respective ends of said frame members being mitered and mortised and terminating in positions spaced inwardly from the respectively adjacent free transverse marginal end portions of said canvas, a pair of transverse end frame members complemental to said side frame members and spanning the space between the cooperable mitered ends of said side frame members and having mortised, mitered and mated ends movably abutting the cooperable mitered ends of said side frame members, said transverse end frame members also having longitudinally rabbeted surfaces residing atop portions of the reverse surface of said canvas, the respective transverse end portions of said canvas projecting beyond the outward lengthwise edges of said transverse end frame members and providing stretching and holddown flaps, said outward lengthwise edges being provided with longitudinal grooves, said holddown flaps being tautly stretched over said lengthwise edges and bridging said grooves, flap retaining members removably lodged in said grooves and serving to retentively nest and anchor said holddown flaps in their respective grooves, and, in combination, a plurality of readily applicable and removable assembling and spreading wedges fitted removably in the coacting mortised end portions of the side members and transverse end frame members respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,326 discloses a stretch and roll frame adapted to be used for supporting a rollable workpiece such as canvas needlework and the like thereon, comprises a first elongated frame member, a second elongated frame member, a first side frame member, and a second side frame member. The first and second elongated frame members each have attaching means provided thereon intermediate the ends thereof for detachably fastening one of the pairs of sides of a workpiece thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,349 teaches a stretch frame in combination with a fabric anchoring member and is formed from a lower section having a concave upper surface and a transparent flexible plastic upper section. Fabric is grasped between the sections when they are drawn compressably together. The curved surface grasps the fabric ends without damaging the fabric which is particularly advantageous with hemmed ends. The clear upper section allows the artist to visually observe the coloration of the fabric ends. The anchoring members are mounted on light weight side frame members to form a frame easily handled and placed on the artist's easel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,247 teaches a sheet material suspension device, and in particular to an apparatus for the suspension and tension of fabric for the purpose of hand dyeing and painting. The apparatus comprises specially designed hooks for attaching the fabric to an elastic band which in turn is attached to a lightweight, collapsible support frame. The method involves unfolding the frame so the bars are substantially equidistant at their ends, placing the elastic in notches at the ends of the bars, pulling loops of the elastic through the notches, placing the hooks on the inside of the loops, and placing the hooks into the hem of the fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,292 teaches a unique inner frame member interlocking orthogonally along the inner length of outer frame member to prevent the tension of the canvas from deflecting the frame inwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,353,327 discloses a canvas stretching assembly with adjustable stretching bars connecting in an end-to-end configuration that allow for the stretching of a canvas, even after the canvas is mounted thereon, with the degree of stretching being adjustable in multiple directions. The canvas stretching assembly, when disassembled, may be compactly stored, which is especially appreciated for shipment purposes.
US Patent Publication 2013/0333851 discloses a frame assembly capable of self-stretching fabric evenly has an outer frame, a demountable inner frame mounted in the outer frame and a positioning mechanism with retaining flaps and engaging sections disposed between the inner frame and the outer frame. A patterned fabric covers a front of the inner frame and is wrapped on an outer annular surface of the inner frame. The inner frame is then pushed into the outer frame, so the fabric is held between the outer frame and the inner frame, and is stretched and evenly smoothed by the positioning mechanism of the frame assembly. When the inner frame is pushed out of outer frame, the fabric can be changed and replaced with another fabric with a different pattern. Therefore, replacing the fabrics on the frame assembly is easy and the fabrics are not damaged.
Thus, various devices are known in the art. However, their structure and means of operation are substantially different from the present disclosure. The other inventions fail to solve all the problems taught by the present disclosure. At least one embodiment of this invention is presented in the drawings below and will be described in more detail herein.